In spite of having so many unambiguous sketches of Satan in The Bible as well as other

religious scriptures and the holy books, Milton draws a picture of Satan which actually erects
him with honor and it makes a controversy among the readers as well as the critics. Milton
quotes a mistake, pride, committed by Satan and he (Satan) is cursed. But it actually generates
sympathy for him and also it shows the unjust decision of God. He also talks about the
punishment of evil deeds of Satan as well as his followers. Milton knowingly supports Satan and
draws his character like a hero and he develops the character of Satan being sympathized and
devotes much concentration to make him the best creation. The purposes of the paper are to find
out the structure as well as the image of the character of Satan drawn by John Milton in the great
epic poem, Paradise Lost.

The very descriptions of Satan’s physical dimensions and the size of the tools he carries mark
him out as a kind of hero. His limbs are long and large; his bulk is as huge as that of the Titan
who fought against Jove or that of Leviathan which God of all His works created hugest that
swim the ocean stream. He has a mighty stature so that, when he rises, the
flames on both sides of him are driven backward and roll in
billows. He carries a ponderous, massy, and large shield on
his shoulder. This shield is compared to the moon as seen
through a telescope. His spear is so big that the tallest pine
tree would be but a wand by comparison, etc. This
description may be valid if we consider the epic as showing
Satan as a character who “materializes hope, basing his hopes
to gain power on the acquisition of land” (Fenton, 2003:
n.p.).Combined to these great qualities, Satan was the first of
created beings who, for endeavoring to be equal with the
highest and to divide the empire of Heaven with the Almighty,
was hurled down to Hell. His aim was no less than the throne
of the universe. His ambition was the greatest, and his
punishment was the greatest, but not so his despair, for his
fortitude was as great as his sufferings. Slotkin (2004, as
cited in Smilie, 2013) is also of the view that "God's
punishments turn their victims into allegories of their own
crimes" (114), a notion confirmed by Satan's famous
assertion "Myself am Hell" (IV. 75). His strength of mind
was matchless as his strength of body. His power of action
and of suffering was equal. He was the greatest power that
was ever overthrown, with the strongest will left to resist or
to endure. He was baffled, not confounded. He still stood like
a tower, proudly eminent in shape and gesture. An outcast
from Heaven, Hell trembles beneath his feet; Sin and Death
are at his heels, and mankind are his easy prey. Milton’s has
rightly said in Book I:
All is not lost; the unconquerable will,
And study of revenge, immortal hate,
And courage never to submit or yield,
And what else is not to be overcome. (106-109).
The above words indicate that the sense of Satan’s
punishment seems lost in the magnitude of it; the loss of
infinite happiness to himself is compensated in thought, by
the power of inflicting infinite misery on others. Yet Satan is
not the principle of malignity, or of the abstract love of evil,
but of the abstract love of power, or pride, of self-will
personified. His love of power and contempt for suffering is
never once relaxed from the highest pitch of intensity (…)
After such a conflict as his, and such a defeat, to retreat in
order to rally, to make terms, to exist at all, is something; but
he does more than this-he found a new empire in Hell, and
from it conquers this new world, wither he bends his
undaunted flight. The poet has not in all this given us a mere
shadowy outline; the strength is equal to the magnitude of the
conception.

Satan as he appears in Book IX is a degenerated figure. He is no longer an indomitable and

defiant fighter against God but a mean and cunning scheming conspirator. He has lost all his
original radiance and splendor, his imperious pride, his arrogant defiance and his unyielding
spirit of challenge and effrontery. The Satan of Book IX is so markedly different from the Satan
who first rebelled against God, or even the Satan that appears in Book I. He is now fallen and
depraved not only in the eyes of God and other heavenly angels but also in his own eyes. He
indulges in self- piety and self- depreciation, which was something contrary to his grain. The
former Satan we dread and admire, the present Satan we pity and deride. So, in self- pity, Satan
says:

“ O foul descent! That I who erst contended